Website designers and company owners have had to make a number of tough choices in the past. In most cases, they had to choose between good-looking websites and perfectly functioning websites. Those nightmarish days of difficult choices are now over. Right now, Drupal allows users and developers to choose updated templates that are high on both looks and functionality.

What is so special about Drupal?

If you think Drupal is a one of a kind CMS platform that caters to large corporations with highly specific requirements, then you are absolutely right. Currently, Drupal powers over 1 million websites and that includes government websites, enterprises and university websites. Many ecommerce websites also turn to Drupal for updated features and fast loading.

Drupal is open sourced and that makes it quite the charmer among all available CMS platforms. Both Drupal 7 and Drupal 8 are perfect for websites that need multi-lingual settings, directory listings, multi-site requirements, ecommerce features and multiple integrations. These websites can be updated with time and the open source nature allows use and sharing of new codes without the hassle of licenses.

Here are some of the features of the newest Drupal 7 and 8 versions that promise a bright future for all ecommerce websites and portfolio sites –

Easy to use

The new admin panels of Drupal 7 and 8 are both extremely easy to control. They give complete access to the website’s basic settings including post editors and comment monitoring. Enjoy endless customization with the powerful admin panels provided by the newest versions of Drupal.

Enterprise functionalities

There are quite a few functionalities including version control, forum, comments and flexible access control management that come guaranteed with the new versions.It is an enterprise level software from all angles. It is customizable, scalable, reliable, manageable, and secure. You can integrate it with SAP and phpBB with a little help from professionals.

UI

The new UI allows direct access to modal dialogs and drop-down buttons. It gives complete control over admin screens. This is a modification seen in version 8. As of Drupal 7, this was a part of the Chaos tool suite.

Newer themes

With the launch of the newer versions, Drupal massively updated its responsive theme library. As of now, in Drupal 8, Twig replaces PHP template-based themes. This means, all Drupal users can now modify the markup with minimal HTML/CSS knowledge without the help of a PHP expert.

HTML5

All of Drupal 8’s output has been converted to respond to HTML5 mark-up. Drupal 8 is faster, smoother and much easier to manage with CSS and JavaScript aggregation.

SEO friendly

Almost all Drupal themes are SEO friendly. However,Drupal allows most companies to develop their own SEO strategies and campaigns for website search engine optimization.

Rapid deployment

Drupal allows rapid development and deployment of websites. The templates ensure that all deployed websites can be later edited after publication. This is a character of a true Web 2.0 style websites. Therefore, you can check your feedback and reviews to make necessary changes on your website.

What are the extreme opportunities the come with Drupal?

Drupal has over 29,000 modules and 2000 themes that are responsive. At this moment, over a hundred expert developers are using Drupal for their current projects. It is currently the back-end framework of over 2% of all the websites around the world. Drupal powers a huge collection of websites ranging from ecommerce to social networking sites.

Creating a website with Drupal –

There is no trade secret for creating a working website with Drupal. Even if you are a first time website designer, all you need to do is log in and make use of the “View” and “Edit” options. While the View option allows you to see your users’ perspective, the Edit option allows you to customize your content at one go.

In order to a new page, you can make use of the “Create Content” option. Start with the title and then move onto the CK editor that have an interface similar to MS Word. You can edit the text as easy as in any Microsoft Office application. You can change font style, color and size. You can add images and alight the content with easy options.

Drupal templates always leave room for added features. You can add discussion forums, comment threads and polls. You can also add different plugins for these functionalities. Adding plugins for separate functionalities do add more weight to your website, but that also makes it easy for you to manage the contents. If you are interested in creating and maintaining an ecommerce website, you can add a products catalog, gallery and filtering options.

Newest Drupal website designs allow users to add filtration options and sorting options along with their product catalogs. All good ecommerce websites have a live search option. Drupal has included a live search option finally in their product catalogs.

Another important plugin and feature that all websites should contain is the traffic analytics. Most Drupal websites do not come with default analytics tools. You can add analytics tools to your website templates. As a matter of fact, you can give Google Analytics a try. This is one of the best free tools that guide your business and profit in the right direction.

All in all, Drupal is a complete solution for all your website building needs. You may be a novice looking to complete your first project within a tight budget or you can be an expert who is looking for a break from the clutter of codes, Drupal is your gateway from mundane designs and stringent codes. Take a break and enjoy building new, responsive and beautiful websites with Drupal for a change.